5-at-10: Was it a Smart decision for Georgia?, Tiger’s done, CFB playoff, Rushmore of coaches at their alma mater

Yep, we got wordy again. Sue us.

From the “Talks too much” studios, pour another cup and dig in.

Kirby Smart

Almost every outlet is saying people without names are saying that Georgia is going to hire Kirby Smart.

OK.

We said this on Press Row on Tuesday, but as an Auburn fan, facing Smart rather than Mark Richt, who owned all his regular rivals other than Florida, makes us smile.

Smart must be some kind of special – or be the favorite son of some big-money boosters – because this feels like the dominos really started falling in Athens when South Carolina reportedly was going to hire Smart. (Side note: Would it not have been such a bad thing for Smart to spend a few years at South Carolina to, you know, actually see if he can be the Head Coach in Charge as opposed to rolling the dice with a job as big as Georgia – and parting with a winner like Richt to make room? Alas.)

So Smart, is the guy. And who knows, Johnny Dogs Fan, he may be great, and that would be an improvement over the very, very good you got for 15 years from Richt, who by the way is now the hottest name on the job market.

And with the Smart decision (nice, right?), the internal staff in-fighting will begin.

There are reports that Jeremy Pruitt will leave Georgia to be the DC at Alabama to replace Smart. (Side note: The best athlete in the country, five-star future DB and UGA commit Mecole Hardman has said that if Pruitt is not in Athens, he won’t be either. Now, you can’t make coaching decisions on the whims on recruits, but the UGA staff overhaul could very well cost them the top QB in the country and the top athlete. That’s a tough blow.)

Smart also reportedly wants to lure Will Muschamp from Auburn to be his DC, a move that has been met with a lot of blowback from UGA fans who are less than thrilled with Muschamp. (And to be fair, Pruitt’s defense this year was assuredly not Georgia’s problems.)

Which brings us to what Press Row co-host David Paschall so accurately discussed Tuesday: If Smart is the guy, the biggest question is who does he bring with him to call the plays? That’s huge for a program that was severely offensively challenged this year.

And to add more fuel to the swirling conspiracy fires, now that Smart is gone, and there are loud whispers that Alabama OC Lane Kiffin may be on the way out as well, the world interweb would melt if the Tide replaced those two cats with Pruitt and Richt, and assembled arguably the greatest recruiting staff in the history of the free world.

Oh my.

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Tiger Woods

And that cuts it.

We have held out hope that we had not seen the last of Tiger stalking a golf course and intimidating the field and attracting the attention of the sporting world.

Yes, it was a long shot. Yes, it was probably even wishful thinking, considering Tiger went from No. 1 in the world rankings to No. 400 in less than two full years.

But, still, we wanted one more stomp in the sun, one more birdie-filled back nine that caused Augusta-like roars wherever he was.

And with arguably the saddest interview we’ve heard in a long time, Tiger himself confirmed what we all kind of knew, even if some of us never wanted to admit it.

Dude is done.

Cooked.

The entire interview was sad, and the video clips were so telling. Because no matter how much the evidence told us that his career was headed the way of the dinosaur, there was part of us that believed as long as Tiger believed there was still a chance. (A Lloyd Christmas, 1-in-1,000,000 chance, but we’re saying there’s a chance.)

We believed that as long as Tiger believed and was committed to getting healthy for one final run, there was a chance.

It was a belief staked in the knowledge that this side of Michael Jordan, Tiger was the single greatest competitor of our lifetime. It was a belief staked on what he used to do way more than what he has been doing, and that the hope that that muscle memory and competitive fire would bring out the best from one of the three best every to pick up a club.

And it’s gone. For good.

And beyond his words, the clips are clear.

When asked what he’s been doing, Tiger admits he’s gotten really good at video games. And he was completely serious.

A guy with half a billion bucks who would rather get callouses playing Halo or FIFA rather than banging wedges into a 5-gallon bucket is done.

No matter how good he used to be.

Alas.

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Playoff committee

The top six of the college football playoff committee’s ranking was as we expected:

1. Clemson

2. Alabama

3. Oklahoma

4. Iowa

5. Michigan State

6. Ohio State

Oklahoma is done, and the Sooners should be a lock. The winner of the Big Ten title game between Iowa and Michigan State is in.

Barring the near-impossible Florida upset over Alabama (and yes, we believe Nick Saban will have a blow-up in a press conference after practice today, and start screaming about Florida’s a good team and distractions and everything this side of the climate debate), the line-up is pretty clear.

The lone question would be if No. 10-ranked UNC could get into the four if the Heels smoked Clemson, and the committee spoke of this, saying that the loss to South Carolina – all the way back on Sept. 3 – looks bad. But the Heels would be a conference champ.

So UNC holds the drama key and an upset in Charlotte on Saturday could mean a spot for Ohio State, Stanford, UNC or even Clemson.

Here’s an interesting recap.

Buckle up.

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This and that

– David Price will get paid roughly a million bucks an appearance

– Wow.

– Kobe Bryant said good bye to his hometown on Tuesday night. And it was a great night for the hosting Sixers, who got their first win of the season in Game 20 and ended a 28-game slide dating back to last season. Checking the box score, Kobe’s shooting woes – he was 7-of-26 overall, 4-of-17 from 3, and 2-of-4 from the line last night – continued. On the season, he’s shooting 30 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3. He is the least efficient player in the NBA and may be the worst. Seriously. Of the 120 players with enough shots attempts to qualify Kobe is dead last in shooting percentage and is also dead last among the 104 players with enough attempts to qualify in 3-point percentage.

– We love the draft. You know this. Here’s a highly interesting Q-and-A with Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr., that includes some tidbits on the Titans and even some big love for local-stud turned Ohio State star Vonn Bell.

– We are making an effort to watch more college hoops this year – in part for work, in part because we want to feel the connection we used to feel about the game. Last night’s UNC win over Maryland had some moments, and to borrow Maximus’ line, we were entertained. That said, it was hard not to flash back to a little more than 30 years ago and remember the clinic that Lenny Bias out on the Heels back in the day. Yes, that’s an unfair level of comparison, but it was hard to be a little remiss. (And yes, Maryland being in the Big Ten remains the biggest head-scratching, “What?” moment of conference realignment to this day.)

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Today’s question

If all the reports are to be believed, and there are a ton of them out there saying it’s a done deal, grade the Kirby Smart hire?

Also, let’s say Smart is a home run. Who would he have to knock off the college football Rushmore of coaches who had the most success at their alma mater?

(Have to think Bear and Spurrier have two of those spots, right?)

Whatcha’ got? (And remember the mailbag.)